Bed reading lamp



June 22, 1948. M. LANCRY ETAL I 2,

BED READING LAMP Filed July 25, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY June 22, 1948. LANCRY ETAL 2,443,829

, BED READING LAMP Filed July 25, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q wi 3. L9

' 1, ll wHHw- V HII ITII IIH l IIHIII cg: hzmlulu HH 15 INVENTORS Mme/cf zn/vmr arra AAA/6 VQ'BY 4 'TTORNEY Patented June 22, 1948 BED READINGLAMF" Maurice Lancryvandpttaljang, a

New York, N. Y."

Application July 25, 1946.- Serial No. 686 ,0 79? This invention relates generally to lighting fixtures.. More particularly our invention is directed to animproved construction for reading lampsof the type adapted for use in reading. inbed.

. Bed reading lamps as heretofore constructed have long been a recognized source of annoyance and conflict, in cases where two persons occupied the same bed. while the other desired to sleep, the light rays from the lampwould annoythe sleeper. It is therefore one of theprincipal objects of our invention to provide a bed reading lamp of the character described which shall be so constructed and arranged as to avoid the above described disadvantages inherent in prior constructions of bed reading lamps and which at the same time shall be novel, simple in constructionand highly efficient in use. i

Another object of our invention is to provide a novel bed reading. lamp which shall represent a-general advance in the art.

Other objects of our invention will hereinafter be pointed out or will become apparent from the description to follow. i

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig; lis a perspective View of abed reading lamp constructed and arranged in accordancecomprising a casing H], which may be'of metallic or other suitable opaque material. The said casing Hlmay be rectangular in shape; as shown, and composedof a topwall l I', end walls i2 and l4,-

a front wall I5 and a rear wall It; and open at the bottom. The saidtop, end, front and rear walls of the' casing may be integrally joined, as shown, to render the joints light-proof, so as to normally permifithe light rays from within the casing to escape only through the bottom opening.

Mounted'within the casing l0, and fixed to the end wall I2 thereof is an electric-"'lampsocket S of any wellknown standardtype, adapted to receive therein a suitable lamp L. The said socket S may be retained in place by a -threaded bushing:

ill threadedly engaged in the base IQ of the socket and passing through anopening12l in thewall l2. A nut member 22 on the bushing '20 will lock the socket against the saidwall l2.

It is noted that the lamp L extends inwardly of the casing. in a longitudinal direction away When one person wished to read 5 Claims (crew-4 from-the wall i l-2 ,.-;to a poi-nt-beyond-the center of; said casing:- Aeuitable wire -2 3-; flconnected-to the socket s andpassingthrough-the bushing. 20 to:- the outside-of; thecasingieads toa suitablesource:

of electriccurrents; A switch 24-controls-thelight In. accordance; with our inventionwe provide; a-= light shield 3ll-which is pivotally mounted on; the casingldihthe manner and for the purpose soon to be described; A

Thesaid-lightshielded-comprises a 'pair of tri angula'nshapedspaced apart side walls iil and: 32; and a rectangular shapedbottom walli33; j The; said walls 31:, .32 and 33-:may. be, integrallyjoined,

, as shown, to prevent light leakage at..the-points--.

of:- junctures The wall 31 is so disposed as to lie closely adjacent thewall I5- oi the casing and thez walle32 to lie closely adjacentthednner surf-ace. oi -the wall I62 The" wall -31 *is-pivotallyconnected;

Sa is pivotally; connected to the wall It by a-suitable-pivot-35.

The light shield: 30 is of such size that the inner transverse edge 33a thereof will contactively em: gage the innersurface of i the wall -,|'4- of thercasing at -its free edge. Mm.- Asclearly noted in- Figc 3" of the 'drawingsthewedgei; 33a ofthe light-shield 3li-is beaded-orcurved"inwardly and-the edge Ma ofthe-"casing wall I 4 is correspondingly inwardly curved- -to prevent light leakage when the light shield is pivotally moved-to oneot its efiectiveq shielding position's It is I notedwthat' the; location of 1 the pivots .1 34: and/35 with respect to the position and locationof the-sockets iscons'idered one ofthe importa-ntelements of our invention for the following rea sons? Assuming. that a' situation occurs where the personwdesignatedby-Fthe letter A in Fig-sl de noted. that nonezof the lightrays emanating-from:

the lamp Lds permitted to shine on' the'person-g B; the said rays being all: directed through the; opening imthe; casing tovthe right of the-ilight shield and-to furnish all light to the book ofithe reading. person-A; If err-the other hand the situa tion wasreversed and' the person-B desired to read while the-person-Ai' was asleep; the lightshield-Bflr: may: be pivotallyrotated. in a counter clockwise. direction, asi-viewed from 3-101 the drawings}; tclthe dottedline-position: 3 0 In this last named position: A will be: shielded? from the light rays? of the: lamp while-B willget thefull benefit of the light for reading;

It=is noted thatthelocationof the'pivots td and: 35: are critically:- arranged :so thatzwhen the. lightshield 30 is pivotally moved to the position 30 as just described, the corner 33b will abut the socket S at a point beyondthe inner extremity ofthe lamp L so as to provide against light passing to the sleeping person A.

Should the occasion arise when both persons A and B desire to read at the same time, the location of the pivots 34 and 35 are such that the light shield 30 may be pivotally moved in a clockwise direction to the dotted line position indicated by the numeral 30" within the casing. In this last named position, it is noted that the light shield 30 will be entirely hidden from view and this is the position which may be employed when the bed reading lamp is not in effective use, so as to present the appearance of the usual bed lamp.

In accordance with our invention, as above described the light shield 30 is preferably mounted on the casing It in such a manner that there will be frictional contact therebetween whereby the said light shield will be maintained in any desired angularly rotated position about the pivots 34 and 35. One such means of frictional mounting is shown in the drawings and illustrated in detail in Fig. 5 thereof. As noted, the pivots 34 and 35 may be made in the form of screw members with the heads 34a and 35a thereof contactively engaging the outer surfaces of the casing walls I5 and I5 respectively. A nut 38 threadedly received on the pivot 34 contactively engages the inner surface of the light shield wall 3|, while a nut 39 threadedly received on the pivot 35 contactively engages the inner surface of the light shield wall 32.-Between the said walls 15 and 3| and between the said walls It and 32 are interposed resilient members 40 surrounding the pivots 34 and 35. The amount of resilient friction desired may be adjusted by the pivots and nuts 34, 35 and 38, 39.

For convenience in removably attaching the bed reading lamp of our invention to the headboard of a bed we provide the following construction:

Mounted on the wall I 4 of the casing I in axial alignment with the bushing 20 is a shaft member 42 having a threaded outwardly extending portion. Rotatably mounted on the shaft 42 and bushing 20 is a bail member 45 comprising the side arms 43 and interconnectingcross bar 44. Permanently attached to the cross bar 44 are a pair of resilient hooks 48 adapted to snap over the top edge of the headboard 50 of the bed as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. A nut 46 on the member 42 acting in cooperation with the nut 22 on the bushing 20 serve to frictionally hold the bail member 45 in any desired angular position.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, we have herein described the principle and operation of our invention, together with the construction which we now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but we desire to have it understood that the construction shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combinations and relations described, some of these may be altered and other omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use.

Having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A bed reading lamp of the character described comprising a longitudinal box-like casing open at the bottom thereof, an electric socket adapted to receive a lamp therein, means for mounting said socket within said casing, a light shield member, means for mounting said light shield member on said casing for pivotal movement on an axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of said casing whereby it may be manually movable to a position to shield selected portions of the said open bottom against light passing therethrough from the lamp within the casing and means for removably mounting said casing on a bed.

2. A bed reading lamp of the character described comprising a casing having a top wall, a front wall, a rear wall, end walls and being open at the bottom, an electric socket adapted to receive a lamp therein, means for mounting said socket on one of said end walls of said casing whereby the said lamp will be disposed within said casing, a channel-shaped light shield member comprising a pair of aligned, spaced triangular shaped side walls and an interconnecting rectangular shaped bottom Wall and means for rotatably mounting said light shield member on said casing whereby to block off certain selected portions of said open bottom of said casing from the light of said lamp for the purposes set forth.

3. A bed reading lamp of the character described comprising a casing having a top wall, a front wall, a rear wall, end walls and being open at the bottom, an electric socket adapted to receive a lamp therein, means for mounting said socket on one of said end walls of said casing whereby the said lamp will be disposed within said casing, a channel-shaped light shield member comprising a pair of aligned, spaced triangular shaped side walls and an interconnecting rectangular shaped bottom wall and means for rotatably mounting said light shield member on said casing whereby to block oif certain selected portions of said open bottom of said casing from the light of said lamp for the purposes set forth, said last named means comprising a first pivot passing through said'front wall of said casing and the adjacently disposed side wall of said light shield member, and a second pivot passing through said rear wall of said casing and the adjacently disposed side wall of said light shield member.

4. A bed reading lamp according to claim 3 in which the said light shield member is so constructed and arranged that the same may be rotatably moved to an ineffective position wholly Within said casing and to a position whereby to permit the light rays from said lamp to pass freely through said open bottom of said casing.

5. A bed reading lamp according to claim 3 in which a resilient member is interposed between each of said adjacently disposed side walls of said light shield member and said front and rear walls of said casing.

MAURICE LANCRY. OTTO LANG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,075,199 Horner Mar. 30, 1937 2,158,408 Davio May 16, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 5,788 Great Britain 1911 

